West Indian Girl

Ocean Beach, CA

Fran’s Flashback
we played at winston’s in ocean beach with roman numerals last night. i thought our set was pretty good. i’m glad devan thought it was awesome. it was exhilarating to play a few new songs (that we have been working on in the studio) for the first time. we also extended a couple songs into some pretty long jams. im glad san diego let’s us experiment like this. it’s nice to feel like someone’s got your back when you walk out on a musical precipice. before the show we dined and partied at sean simpson’s (pic) house. i posted it before and it wasnt a lie, this guy cooks like a master chef. dinner was thai inspired and it was the perfect pick me up before the show. thanx for all the hospitality sean. i was able to watch all of roman numeral’s set from the merch booth and thought they were great. q even jumped on stage with them (below).

dressing room and rider wrap up:

the facilities 15 points. there isnt a backstage area at winston’s and that’s too bad cos it’s the one main thing that this club lacks. parking was close by and load in was an easy roll to the stage. the merch set up is a refreshing change from most clubs as of late – nice area to sell your wares. there was also wi-fi.

rider/amenities 8 points. winston’s isnt really the kind of bar that has a a nice spread waiting for you. it’s just one of those things. yeah, it would be nice to have something in the way of food but i guess that’s why sean’s house is just around the corner. alcohol is never a problem at winston’s. neither are the party favor passin fans that seem to show up at our shows down there.

stage, sound, lights 17 points. the stage and sound is great there. the stage is one of the main reasons we like winston’s because it can easily fit the six of us on it. k-rud, who is one of our road soundmen does front of house there. he knows both us and the room very well so it sounded great. we always get a great sound check there too. the lights are so so – minimal – at least they have some.

promoter 20 points. tough not to give ted wigler 30 pooints for this. ted is a great guy to deal with. he helps us load in and load out. that’s a rarity people. show me a club promoter that does that and i’ll show you a dog with 3 testicles … it’s rare. there were posters inside the club and on the street – as far as i could tell promotion was great cos the place was packed.

staff 20 points. the entire staff at winston’s treat us well. no probs here. .

intangibles 10 points. here is where i can give ted the 30 points he deserves. did i mention he pays well?

TOTAL OVERALL SCORE = 90. high fives winston’s, you grade out with an A and made our visit a blast. (click here for a detailed explanation of my scoring system’s categories). it was good to be back in ocean beach. tonight was just as, if not better than the last time. ob has quickly become one of our favorite cities. the crowds there are arguably some of the best.

Tony’s Take

one would think i would enjoy ocean beach as much as the next dawg but that’s really not the case. remember, im a dog and i when fran drags me along for these one off shows i end up spending more time in the van than usual. my only real respite from the van seat was after load in when q and fran took me down to the beach. it’s only a couple block’s away. as far as everything else goes you should probably ask nathan or q to write something. i can tell you everything you ever needed to know about the van and that’s getting old. thanx for the prison time you a-hole fran.

bob doing what any good manager should be doing